About OCR PDF
OCR PDF makes a scanned document searchable. It reads the pictures of text on each page with Tesseract and adds an invisible text layer behind them, so the PDF looks the same but you can search, select and copy the words. It accepts PDF, PNG, JPG, TIFF and BMP files and always returns a PDF.
Choose the language of the text: English and Arabic together, English only or Arabic only. Picking the right one usually helps. Pages that already contain real text are skipped. Quality depends on the scan: straight, sharp, well lit pages work best, and results on blurry or very small text can be poor. Files are deleted after 30 minutes and no watermark is added.
How to use OCR PDF
- 01
Upload a scanned PDF or an image.
- 02
Choose the language of the text.
- 03
Download the searchable PDF.
When to use it
- Make a scanned contract searchable so you can find a clause by keyword.
- Turn photos of book pages into a PDF whose text can be copied.
- Prepare an old scanned archive for search in your document system.
- Copy a paragraph from a scanned letter without retyping it.
- Process a mixed Arabic and English scan with the combined language option.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a scanned PDF searchable?
Upload the scanned PDF or image, choose the language of the text and press the button. You download a PDF that looks the same but has an invisible text layer, so search and copy work.
Which languages does it support?
You can choose English and Arabic together, English only or Arabic only. For a document in a single language, selecting that language usually works better than the combined option.
What happens to pages that already have text?
They are skipped, so existing text is left alone and only pages without text are processed. If every page already has text, you get the file back essentially unchanged.
Why is the recognized text wrong or missing?
Results depend on scan quality. Blurry, skewed, low-contrast or very small text, and handwriting, are unreliable. Rescan at a higher resolution, straighten the page, improve lighting and make sure you picked the correct language.
What are the file size and daily limits?
Guests can upload files up to 10 MB each and run 15 jobs per day. A free account raises this to 50 MB per file and 150 jobs per day. There is no watermark and no sign-up is needed to use the tool.
Is it safe to upload my file, and how long is it kept?
The file is uploaded to our server, processed, and deleted automatically after 30 minutes. The server has no internet access. The result has no watermark and you do not need an account. Avoid uploading anything you are not allowed to share.